Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert authorised a “contrived and determined plan” to spy on opponents in a “deplorable approach” that led to the club’s expulsion from the Championship play-offs.
The English Football League (EFL) confirmed Southampton had been thrown out of the play-off final on Tuesday, with a subsequent appeal from the club failing to overturn the decision yesterday.
Middlesbrough, beaten over two legs by Southampton in the semi-finals, have been reinstated to face Hull City in Saturday’s final and the EFL has now delivered the details of a ruling that denied Southampton the chance of winning promotion back to the Premier League.
A damning assessment of their actions heard that Eckert had personally authorised a spying mission ahead of facing Middlesbrough in the first leg, as well as the earlier mission ahead of meeting Oxford United in December.
“We have concluded that there was … a contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage in competitions of real significance by deliberate attendance at opposition training grounds for the purpose of obtaining tactical and selection information,” the independent disciplinary commission wrote in its assessment published for the first time on Thursday evening.
“It involved far more than innocent activity and a particularly deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff to conduct the clandestine observations at the direction of senior personnel.”
Southampton’s intern analyst, Will Salt, was pictured by Middlesbrough staff observing 48 hours before the teams met at the Riverside on May 9, with the EFL subsequently bringing charges against the club in the following days.
The picture of intern analyst Will Salt was used as part of Middlesbrough’s evidence. (The Athletic)
Two further cases of spying were then reported as part of evidence given ahead of the hearing, first against Oxford United in December and then before meeting Ipswich Town in April.
The independent commission heard that Southampton had initially provided “inaccurate information” when first responding to the EFL on May 8, suggesting that spying was not part of the club’s culture. They had claimed no video footage was captured or shared but later accepted “the opposite was the case.”
Eckert said he had instructed observations of Oxford’s training to assess planned formations and sent Salt to Middlesbrough to check on the availability of an unnamed key player.
“It is inherent in having information which your opponent would wish to keep private that you have a sporting advantage,” the commission wrote.
Southampton argued that the spying was not worthy of a sporting sanction but the EFL said the integrity of the play-offs was “seriously violated” by the orders given by Eckert of facing Middlesbrough and that expulsion was the only option. The financial penalty that Southampton had proposed as punishment was not considered a future deterrent.
The other spying missions, ahead of playing Oxford and Ipswich, were said to be worthy of a three-point deduction for each but the six points were reduced to four owing to mitigation that Southampton had accepted the charges. They will begin next season on minus four points in the Championship.
The commission also took a dim view of pressure placed upon junior staff, like Salt, to carry out their plans considered to be “morally wrong.” It added: “Such staff were in a vulnerable position without job security and with limited ability to object to, or resist the instructions given to them.”
The final decision of a three-person panel was said to be unanimous.
